Bones Recap of Season 8, Episode 6: "The Patriot in the Purgatory" — September 11, Remembered

Full disclosure: We spent most of this episode weeping into a jar of Baby Christine-approved applesauce. Words cannot describe how emotional this week's Bones was, nor can they describe our feelings about Brennan(Emily Deschanel) spanking her squinterns. Basically, our minds are blown for all kinds of reasons, including the fact that Baby Michael still hasn't been seen or heard from. And no, we won't stop talking about his disappearance until justice is served.

The Remains of the Day

Get ready for a studly parade of sexy squinterns! You see, now that Brennan is super obsessed with basketball (just go with it), she's all about working as a team. Her brilliant idea? To roundup the nerd squad and force them to ID as many unidentified remains as possible. And when we say "nerd squad" we mean everyone except Daisy (Carla Gallo), because apparently she's dead to the world now that Sweets(John Francis Daley) has broken her heart. Also, it should be noted that Brennan's idea of "coaching" is to slap her squinterns on their butts repeatedly, which — shockingly — she doesn't get sued for. As you might expect, Brennan's squints are like kids in a candy store, only instead of candy, they're fist deep in human remains. All their forensic fetishes are finally coming true — until Vaziri stumbles across the body of a homeless man and gets all bummed out. Unfortunately, Vaziri can't ID his victim, but that's where Angela(Michaela Conlin) and her freaky computer come in. And we use the term "computer" loosely. Thanks to The Angelatron, the squinterns (who are bromancing up a storm, by the way) learn that the victim died on September 21st. However, his body was covered in jet fuel, and a small piece of metal from a lamppost near the Pentagon was imbedded in his rib — putting the time of injuries 10 days prior — aka September 11, 2001. Annnnd, this is when you should be reaching for the Kleenex.

Band of Brothers

The time has come to check in on Booth(David Boreanaz), because guys? Boyfriend is an emotional mess. After the Jeffersonian team realize that the victim had traces of uranium in his body from an old bullet wound, Booth determines that he was a soldier in Desert Storm and goes on a mission to find his identity. Homeboy spends the day trolling around homeless shelters, and finally IDs the victim as Tim Murphy, a soldier who returned from war, suffered from severe PTSD, and eventually left his family to live on the streets.

Meanwhile, the squinterns have a bonding session about the tragic events that took place on 9/11. First, Vaziri gives Finn "Backwoods" Abernathy (Luke Kleintank) a lecture all about how being Muslim doesn't equal being a terrorist (preach, buddy), and then the whole gang take turns recounting stories about where they were when the Pentagon was hit. Poor Wendell even chats about how his firefighter uncle died during the attacks! By the way, both Cam(Tamara Taylor) and Brennan were involved in the aftermath of 9/11. Cam signed 900 death certificates as a coroner in New York City, and Brennan helped dig out bodies from the rubble — a revelation that causes her to break down crying in front of Booth. Us = on the floor weeping.

Mission Impossible

Booth is on a mission! This Buffy the Vampire Slayer super-fan is single-mindedly obsessed with finding out how Tim Murphy died, and he finally gets a tip when a buddy from the Pentagon reports that Tim would spend every day chanting "Walk In Moore Park" outside the building. After some handsome brooding, Booth realizes that Tim was actually campaigning for his army buddies, Walken, Moore and Park, and simply wanted them get Silver Stars for sacrificing their lives in an ammo dump — which explains his presence at the Pentagon on 9/11!Meanwhile, The Squinterns discover that Tim's clothing was covered in the blood of three other people, all of whom confess that he saved their lives on September 11 by lifting concrete beams off their bodies. Unfortunately, the stress of lifting such huge amounts of weight caused Tim's bones to dislocate and his rib fracture to bow, puncturing his lung in the process. Yep, dude died an unsung hero.

Now before you start hyperventilating in despair, don't worry — Booth and Brennan make sure Tim has a proper burial. Everyone from the Jeffersonian attend the small funeral, as well as Tim's wife and grown son, who join Booth in saluting Tim. As Booth says, Tim was "as brave and noble as the best of us."

And yes, Booth makes sure Tim's war buddies get their Silver Stars. And double yes, we are crying onto our keyboard right now. Deal with it.